The Dons wideman believes the disrespect shown by the Eredivisie side after their first-leg stalemate was all the motivation they needed to book a third round Europa League qualifier against Real Sociedad.

A 2-1 win in the Euroborg Stadium on Thursday night saw the Dutch hosts choke – despite several of their players claiming the tie was already a forgone conclusion.

Cocky winger Filip Kostic claimed his side were 80 per cent through the tie. The Serbian Under-21 player said last week: “We go home happy, we have done 80 per cent of what we need to go through.”

And Groningen skipper Maikel Kieftenbeld went one step further when he said: “I only see Groningen winning in Holland.”

But Hayes admits the policy at Pittodrie will always be that actions speak louder than words.

He said: “When you hear stuff like that, people talking in that way when the tie isn’t over, it’s disrespectful. We’d been 5-0 up in our previous tie against Daugava Riga and would never dream of making such comments.

“It’s up to Groningen if they want to say what they feel. But I always felt we had the advantage going into the second leg as we hadn’t conceded.

“It just goes to show you that talk is cheap. You’ve seen it before when teams comment before games then don’t back up their words with actions. I know the manager wouldn’t appreciate any of us speaking like that. We always try to keep everything in house, whatever way we feel about our opponents.

“We would never be that disrespectful in public.

“So we were a little bit disappointed with what came out. I thought it was silly.”

A magnificent first-half display allowed Derek McInnes’ men to race into a two-goal lead thanks to an Adam Rooney penalty and Niall McGinn strike.

That left Groningen needing to score three times to progress and, despite pulling one back, it never looked likely.

However, Hayes admitted he was a tad guilty of prematurely believing the tie was done and dusted.

He said: “We got the first goal and then the second. To be honest, and the manager will probably kill me for saying this, I thought that was us through. I couldn’t see us conceding three the way we were playing.

“Our performance was quite resilient although we didn’t play the football in the second half we would have liked to.

Aberdeen Fans in Holland

"The manager said it was all about getting the right result so we had to sacrifice some of our game to get it.

“Going two goals up was a huge bonus – then we kind of sat off the game and gave them too much time on the ball.

“They got a goal back just before half-time and in the second half we knew we would find it hard and they really attacked us.

“The manager and Tony Docherty realised that and changed the shape of the team. After that, I thought we coped well.”

Aberdeen’s resurgence on the continent as well as the domestic scene is gathering momentum but Hayes insists the catalyst for their win in Groningen was the memory of beating Celtic 2-1 in a Scottish Cup tie at Parkhead last season.

He said: “The way we played last season gave us confidence. Celtic are a better team than Groningen yet we went to Celtic Park and beat them. We deserved to win, we were the better team on the day which doesn’t really happen that often in Scotland.

“That gave us massive confidence. We touched on that when we were building up to this match.”

The Dons have the look of a side with all of the requirements to succeed in Europe, with a system which relies on rapid counter-attacking using the pace of the likes of Peter Pawlett and McGinn.

Hayes believes the duo are growing from strength to strength and the rest of the side are following their lead.

He said: “The pace we have on the counter, with Niall and Peter, meant we could sit in then hit them on the break.

“After the season before last, everyone knew what Niall can do. People were starting to take his performances for granted.

“And there were rumours about Niall that were untrue. You can see what he brings to the team.

“I was about 50 yards away from his goal and I think he was the only player on the park who reacted. He’s so sharp, I don’t think people realise how quick he is with and without the ball.

“He’s been massive for us and on nights like Thursday, when you sit in and play on the counter-attack, you can see how fast we can break with him and Peter on the park.

“Sometimes when people come across quick players who score goals they don’t realise how technically good they are.

“Niall keeps the ball so well for the team too and he’s important because of the way we want to play. He’s usually the first man forward and keeps the ball which helps bring others into play.”

Next up for the Dons is a trip to Basque country for a visit to Real Sociedad and Hayes doesn’t expect the Spanish side to treat them lightly.

He said: “It’s going to be some game although we haven’t thought about it much yet.

“We know it’s going to be tough but I can’t see Sociedad coming out and underestimating us too much after ourperformance in Holland.”